§ Mr. Wheelerasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) if he will provide a breakdown by embassy of serious offences committed by persons with diplomatic immunity since 1974;
(2) if he will ensure that crimes committed by foreign diplomats but not pursued in the courts on the grounds of diplomatic immunity are given publicity in order to deter others.
§ Sir Geoffrey HoweI entirely share the very understandable concern in the House about the number of offences committed by members of diplomatic missions in this country and the sense of indignation over the abuse of their diplomatic immunity. At the same time, it is important to keep these statistics in proportion. The 546 cases over the last 10 years listed in the evidence of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to the Foreign Affairs Committee were cases where we had prima facie evidence sufficient for criminal proceedings. Had the persons been tried, a number might have been acquitted, while by no means all would have received a custodial sentence.
I am not persuaded that it would be right to name individuals, since this would not be consistent with the long-established principle that a person is presumed innocent until proved guilty.
I am giving further thought to the question of revealing the names of missions whose members are alleged to have committed offences. This raises complex questions of very real practical importance. I shall report further in my forthcoming statement to the House about our review of the Vienna convention.
§ Mr. Wheelerasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will consider limiting the numbers in those embassies whose members have committed serious offences.
§ Sir Geoffrey HoweWe shall continue to deal firmly with all serious offenders on a case by case basis. It would not, in general, be right to curtail the functioning of a mission for offences alleged to have been committed by its individual members. What we seek to ensure is a proper respect by individual diplomats for our laws. In answer to other questions from my hon. Friend, I have outlined how we shall do this.
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§ Mr. Wheelerasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the procedures are for informing the victim where an offence has been committed by a foreign diplomat.
§ Sir Geoffrey HoweThis is a matter for my right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary. I understand that the police inform the victim that the alleged offender is a foreign diplomat.
§ Mr. Wheelerasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what are the procedures for compensating a victim where an offence has been committed by a foreign diplomat.
§ Sir Geoffrey HoweClaims arising out of motoring offences are almost invariably settled by the diplomat's insurance company. Insurance companies have given the Foreign and Commonwealth Office specific assurances that they will not seek to rely in this context on the immunity of any diplomatic client. If we found that a diplomat who had committed a serious motoring offence had no third party insurance, we would immediately request his removal from this country. In the rare cases not related to motoring offences we would take up claims for compensation with the diplomatic mission concerned, provided we were satisfied that the claim was genuine and that the claimant had tried but failed to obtain compensation by writing to the head of the mission.
§ Mr. Wheelerasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps are being taken to reduce the number of serious offences attracting prison sentences of six months or more by members of the foreign diplomatic community in London.
§ Sir Geoffrey HoweOffences of this kind are invariably brought to the attention of the head of mission. In the more serious cases we require either a waiver of immunity or the removal of the offender from this country. In addition, heads of mission have been specifically reminded that we take a very grave view of drunken driving offences, failure to take out third party insurance and offences against firearms laws. We also have the sanction of declaring a diplomat persona non grata under article 9 of the Vienna convention.
§ Mr. Wheelerasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many foreign diplomats have been asked to leave the United Kingdom in each of the last five years on the grounds that they were responsible for committing a serious offence for which he sentence could involve imprisonment.
§ Sir Geoffrey HoweTwenty-three diplomats and one dependant have left the United Kingdom since the beginning of 1982 following representations by us about evidence of a serious offence. It has not been possible in the time available to establish the number of diplomats removed from the United Kingdom on these grounds in the years 1979, 1980 and 1981. I shall write to my hon. Friend as soon as this information is available.